Fosscore's 2013 Suburban LTZ Build Thread

[Fosscore]

We just lost our beloved dog Charlie and the family is having a rough time.

As anyone on this forum knows when your best mate goes down. It is hard to lose one of your closest pals who is always happy to see you without judgment day in and day out.

He was a loyal brother to our previous dog Ziggy, who also went down too early at age 9. Ziggy gave him the cold shoulder when he arrived as a new puppy, then they were inseparable.

Charlie carried the torch until his sister Holly came into the house and she was an instant terror. She was and is still so full of life and *****. She hunts iguanas, chases squirrels and digs holes along the fence line (she is only 12 pounds of white fur and so expressive) but a princess who will give you the cold shoulder but also loves to cuddle and give plenty of kisses. Especially after licking her butt!!

She will push forward with the family and be our take along dog and prime focus while we all heal from his too early departure of another good doggie soul. All love with so many stories and pictures to remember Charlie while we heal and move into acceptance and eventually joy of having the best times with him traveling all across the world twice and many other adventures. We loved him so much as all he wanted to do was please us.

Hard to write this (I had to step away for a moment there...rough...okay let me keep writing), but I needed an outlet to express my sadness for losing such a good part of our daily family life. It's hard to watch my daughter cry and my son did his best not to cry even though I think he wanted to when I told him.
I cried.

It's only been 23 hours since my wife called me as she was there. (now 48 because I needed some more time and I wanted to find a few more photos). She was glad to be there for him, but watching the end was not nice for her. She is a loving caring mother and total animal person, so it is especially hard for her. She is having a very rough time and I feel bad for her. We've cried a bit together and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

We will get through this point, as we all do. Just putting some raw thoughts to his beloved memory and time we were lucky to have him in our lives. What a truly amazing dog with the softest coat we have ever felt!!

Ok gotta post this before I have to step away again.

Here are some pics of Charlie. (and his many other names we called him). The Chocolate Dog, Chee Chee, Cheech, The Human Doggie (his eyes were truly amazing and so full of soul)...

RIP mate!

 

[pwtr02ss]

I'm sorry for your loss brother. Send my condolences to the rest of the family as well.

 

[adventurenali92]

Such a cute pup! Always hard losing a furry member of the family!

 

[Tonyrodz]

I'm so, so sorry Mike. It's so hard to lose such a good friend, a family member. RIP Charlie. Just remember the good times--and the times he pooped and you stepped in it. That'll let your heart smile.

 

[Fosscore]

I'm sorry for your loss brother. Send my condolences to the rest of the family as well.

Such a cute pup! Always hard losing a furry member of the family!

I'm so, so sorry Mike. It's so hard to lose such a good friend, a family member. RIP Charlie. Just remember the good times--and the times he pooped and you stepped in it. That'll let your heart smile.

Thanks very much guys. Really appreciated.

 

[Fosscore]

@adventurenali92 inspired me to write a little travel blog of my recent adventures after his long post. Awesome pics and stories Chase!!.

This post has Zero to do with the NNBS (well I did get a 30% off Black Friday part on Thanksgiving day at 1800 that I had been waiting on so more on that later) , but some good pics and stories herein. So here we go.

9-13 November I flew to Arizona solo to visit my parents and brothers. I last saw them in February 2022 when I came back to the USA.

A nice relaxing trip at home, doing a few projects around the house and catching up on some things.

I had dinner at my brothers house one night and he made some hamachi from the mahi mahi, yellowtail snapper and tuna that he caught in the Sea of Cortez not too long ago.

He cleaned it, packed it and had it all in the freezer on his truck for the trip back to his house within a few hours of having been caught from the sea. He's got the deep freezer in his garage full of fish and deer meat from his recent hunt as well. He has turned into quite the sushi master making me a poke bowl and hamachi nachos and sashimi. Really cool to watch his prep and presentation. He's pretty passionate about it.






Hanging in my brothers house.



Both of my brothers have had numerous Heelers over the years. Blues and Reds. One got stolen and the others passed on due to the random issues dogs get. Great dogs. Loyal, protective, full of energy and loving.

This is his current dog Dulce. Meaning Sweet in Spanish.
There are 2 other blues that belong to my brothers. Badger (my other brother) and Pippy. Pippy and Dulce are related.


Saw plenty of deer, a skunk and we hooted at the horned owls in the cold night. He lives on the edge of the national forest, so zero light pollution other than from some of the other houses. Plenty of coyotes and mountain lions roaming around as well.

My kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off and we had planned to take them to the GA mountains north of Atlanta. While I was home with my parents, we figured why not come visit my parents as the kids were wanting to come to the cold and visit everyone. They had not seen my family since September 2020 when we left the USA.

My dad has tons of travel points and spotted us the flights, which was very cool. We sorted out our little girl dog Holly and brought her along. She did very well in the airport, she hated her carrier and ssshhh spent most of the 4.5 hr flight between my wife and daughter. Nobody gave us any grief about her being out of her carrier, because she was so quiet and just slept.

We used a car service from our town that we had used before as it was much better than sitting in a tight shuttle with 14 other travellers and he took us straight to my parents house. Can't beat door-to-door service in a Suburban.

He bought the business from a friend about 7 years ago and has about 5 vehicles including Town Cars and Suburbans. The TCs have about 600k on them and have been fully rebuilt, painted, interior redone etc.. Says they never miss a beat. The 2017 Suburban had 400k and still looked pretty good. He had a new transmission installed and complete A/C system as well due to the original one having grenaded and sent metal shards throughout the system.

 

[Fosscore]

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, 22 November, I headed out on a solo road trip to El Paso, TX. My dad's accountant had to settle an estate sale on a 2015 Subaru Forester with only 8100 miles on it. His sister in El Paso bought it, but couldn't figure out the best way to get it there.

Wish I would have known, I would have bought it for the family or my son. My dad wasn't going to drive it and didn't want her to fly in and drive it back either. Both are 70+ in age.

Shipping was $1300 for just over 500 miles. I told my dad I would do it no problem, and that was a ridiculous quote for such a short distance. We are 1 hour from the nearest major interstate, so I get it, but won't pay it.

The weather was perfect, and it was only one day out of our family trip and I had just been home, so the kids spent time with my mum and took her to lunch at In N Out burger as they had been craving it for so long.

I was on the road at 0350 , passing through Phoenix in the dark and finally seeing the sun rise over Picacho Peak, where I had seen many jets and A-10s buzz by in the 90s from Davis-Monthan AF base.



I cruised into Tucson and made a short detour down Speedway Blvd. to the University of Arizona, my alma mater, to have a quick drive around campus. There were many changes and I drove by one of the houses that I lived in while going to school there. Was very nostalgic to see what had changed and relive the time I had on that campus.

Continuing on I-10 east for the New Mexico border going through Willcox and Benson and the turn off for Douglas down by the border. Very pretty country. One summer for All Star baseball, we had won in Holbrook to make it to the State playoffs in Douglas, only to lose our first game, but we made it. Mom was a trooper taking me from the heat of the reservation to the border town of southern Arizona to play baseball.

I love southern Arizona, well pretty much all of Arizona. The beauty rivals the ocean and the sunsets and sunrises either at the low desert or higher altitudes where my parents live is truly stunning.

I blasted through New Mexico, seeing a few more troopers in black and white Tahoes. Traffic was not an issue and the rest stops for fuel were plentiful. I only needed two. A fill up before departure and $54 of 87 octane for the trip. Averaged 27-33mpg at 77mph. That Subaru was easy to drive. Not going to win any off the line runs, but everywhere else it excelled.

Train in New Mexico for @adventurenali92


I made the turn off to Trans Mountain bypassing Las Cruces and the smallest sign in Texas showed me that I had left NM. I arrived into El Paso at 1230.

This trip was no big deal and I hadn't seen my cousin, aunt or uncle in over 20 years!!! No kidding. My other aunt I had seen a few years ago, but happy to help her out and get a great road trip across some beautiful desert countryside.

My uncle recounted some Vietnam stories as he spent most of his time in the Navy running the river boats.

The last time I saw my cousin was at the family house in Mexico for a massive reunion, and he was going to buy a Camaro.

Well he did buy a 1967 Camaro that he still has. He bought a newer Corvette, sold it, then a new Camaro and got into track racing and then some autocross.

Funny thing he said was that he would rather drive slower car fast than a faster car slow. I cannot recall which one had 600HP, but I think it spooked him a bit. Was cool to catch up. He is married with an 11 year old now.

He was and I think is the ultimate Star Wars nerd since he was a little kid. He had every figure in the storage boxes and aircraft from the movies. We spent a lot of holidays over there when my Grandma was alive. Thankfully that was only when the original I, II and III were on the scene so it was easier to keep track of the figures. To most, they are now known as IV, V and VI. Pick your way, but in my book they are the OG I, II and III. lol

We grabbed some lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint.

Squarebody pic was better then my tacos lol!!


We dropped by one of my aunts house to pick something up, which turned out to be my Grandmas old house. I did not know that. Holy cow! That was pretty cool to see.



Then I was back at the airport for my 1hr 20min flight back to Phoenix. Definitely in Texas when you can get a boot shine as well.



My dad was down in the Valley doing some shopping and picked me up at the airport. I drove home another 2 hours to their house. Traffic was bit hectic and he isn't as steady and confident as he used to be. We were home by 2100. A long day indeed, but glad to help everyone out.

 

[adventurenali92]

A day late but happy thanksgiving mate!

Looks like you had tons of fun! I agree those Arizona sunrises and sunsets are magical! My dads family is all in the Glendale and phoenix areas including my two half siblings. I haven’t seen his family in many years as I don’t get along. But my mom and I drove to Scottsdale to buy the 2014 grand Cherokee overland summit she now owns in July of 2021 and we pulled off into a rest stop just to catch the amazing sunset going down behind us! They’re definitely special! Really cool to visit extended family too!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Sounds like one awesome road trip, with the benefit of seeing family.
Question tho--who the hell steals someone's dog?? That's like stealing someone's baby.

 

[Fosscore]

Moving on to Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my brother had the day off from the fire station and had us over so that the cousins could meet up since they hadn't seen each other in a few years. Time just gets away doesn't it?

My brother took the kids for a very short hike away from the house for some target practice with the .22s. They all did pretty well shooting cans on the ground, in the trees and a target on the ground.

Then he let them loose riding around in the Polaris Ranger. They had so much fun zooming around the dirt roads. My son handled the driving, but hasn't really been interested in getting his drivers permit. This may have inspired him to make that effort, with a little push from us. They had a blast and what a great experience for them to laugh and enjoy the cold mountain air together.

I took my daughter for a zoom up some dirt trails as well, but she wasn't ready to drive it yet. We still had fun together laughing and talking.

A great day together just hanging out. The dogs always make it fun too. We had Dulce and Pippy, my brothers 2 heelers, out little dog Holly, the black lab, (I forgot his name) and the rescue dog with the jacket known simply as Little Dog.



Little Dog


Pippy


Dulce


Holly working on making her coat brown.